Mining led South Africa's sectoral retreat as the economy shrank in Q2 2026

South Africa's economy had returned to modest growth in Q1 2026, but Q2 brought a synchronised retreat across its productive base — mining shed 3.0% in a single quarter as output fell across platinum group metals, gold, manganese ore, and iron ore, while trade and manufacturing each contracted by close to 2%. The contraction was therefore not an isolated shock but a broad-based pullback, amplified on the expenditure side by a second consecutive quarterly decline in gross fixed capital formation as businesses and public corporations held back investment. The economy consequently shrank by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter — its first negative GDP quarter in over a year — at the very moment the labour market was absorbing the loss of 80,000 formal non-agricultural jobs in Q1 2026.